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May 4, 2010

G27: Red Sox 5, Angels 1

Jeremy Hermida made sure that Kevin Jepsen did not escape the eighth inning unscathed. Though he needed some help from Jepsen's left fielder, Juan Rivera.

Jepsen took over for Santana (7-7-1-1-7, 115) in a 1-1 tie and got into trouble immediately. He walked Victor Martinez on four pitches, then walked Kevin Youkilis on eight. J.D. Drew poked an opposite field single to load the bases. David Ortiz, who had ended possible scoring opportunities in the first and third innings, grounded a 2-0 pitch into a 4-2-3 double play, his second twin killing of the evening.

But the Red Sox did not fold. Adrian Beltre walked on four pitches to re-load the bases and Hermida lifted a 2-2 pitch to deep left. Rivera drifted back and twisted around, clearly having no idea how to play the fly. It ended up not even hitting the Wall, but landing on the warning track. By the time Rivera got the ball back to the infield, all three base runners had scored and Hermida had a double that improved Boston's win probability by 32.7% (63.8 to 96.5)!

Jepsen (.2-2-4-3-0, 32) was replaced by Scot Shields, who gave up an RBI double to pinch-hitter Mike Lowell. Marco Scutaro (who doubled back in both the first and second innings) singled and Dustin Pedroia walked to once again load the bases, but Jonathan Van Every, who had pinch-run for Martinez at the start of the inning, struck out.

Jonathan Papelbon then set down the Angels' 3-4-5 hitters in order (K swinging, 5-3, K looking) and Boston took the second game of this four-game series.

Pedroia had preserved the tie in the top of the eighth when, with one out and the bases loaded, Bobby Abreu grounded to second. The infield was in, so FY had the ball as Erick Aybar was running past him from first to second. Pedroia tagged Aybar and as he stumbled and fell towards first base, shuffled the ball to Youkilis to end the inning.

Lester (8-5-1-2-5, 120) turned in his third straight excellent start.

The standings are still gruesome -- it will take more than two days to make them even remotely palatable -- but it feels like we are watching an entirely different team than the one we suffered with in Baltimore over the weekend.

Lester has not allowed a run in his last two starts: 12.2 innings, 5 hits, 6 walks, 18 strikeouts.

Santana has not pitched very well in Boston -- 4 starts, 21.1 innings, 20 hits, 17 runs -- but three of those starts were in 2005 and 2007.

All nine starters in last night's lineup had (at least) one hit and one run scored. Pinch-runner Jonathan Van Every also scored a run, but did not get a hit in his one at-bat.

It was the second time this season a team had all of its starters get a hit and a run. San Diego did it in a 17-2 win over Atlanta on April 12, with starting pitcher Kevin Correia hitting a two-run single and scoring on a double.

B-Ref says it happened nine times in 2009, 10 times in 2008, 12 times in 2007, 19 times in 2006, and 15 times in 2005.